AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

According to Gizmodo, folks with iPhone and still use ATT services (not T-Mobile) should be able to access ATT hotspots again, like at Starbucks. This is terrific news.  And it's about time.  There have a Jekyll-And-Hyde thing going with ATT giving iPhone owners access to hotspots. Let's hope this time, it sticks. Also, if you're an iPod Touch owner, and you feel left out, Starbucks offers a couple of hours of free service if you buy coffee or use your Starbucks card.  And also, if you have DSL through ATT, you also get free access to ATT hotspots. Things are looking good once again. Via Gizmodo Note:  G1 owners also get access to T-Mobile's hotspots for free.  Well, it's part of your service.

It's traditional for cell phone makers to drop the price of their devices over time as costs come down.  For the iPhone, I think we'll see a $150 before $99. But Apple has surprised me lately with moves I didn't think they had the DNA to formulate the behavioral characteristics to make.  Gone are the days of "my way or the highway" approach.  Sometimes. Take the $200 drop on iPhone just this July for the iPhone 3G.  A younger Jobs might have stuck to his guns.  Now, it's Apple talks about sacrificing near term margins to leave no umbrella room for competitors. But the impact of a $99 is mind-boggling.  If adoption rates increase 2-3 times, it truly leaves very little room for competitors to move. Link:   Crunchgear My only question is what happens to the iPod Touch.

Here's a fun thought:  Apple buying Yahoo.  Here's the thing. Apple won't have to offer Yahoo the premium Microsoft was paying for.  After all, Apple stock has a better upside potential than Microsoft at this moment with the iPhone sales leading the way and Macbooks flying off the shelves.  Essentially, Apple would be saying to Yahoo, "we'll buy you with a small premium and you'll be very thankful for it later". With Android now a competitor to Apple's mobile platform, despite bloggers love using products from both companies (myself included) who try to walk a fine line on that matter in their posts, Google and Apple are on a potential collision course for mobile supremacy. Now, Yahoo doesn't want to go under Redmond's sphere of influence.  It'll tolerate Google.  But I think the ranks and files of Yahoo would be very excited about a change of leadership to Cupertino.  Of course, this is only a speculative scenario on my part. However...

For those of you joining us from Onxo , welcome to these benchmark intepretations.  Previously, we talked about Apple's new benchmark numbers and we have been eagerly waiting for independent ones from Macworld.  Here's here. Macworld is kind enough to bring us additional gaming numbers for the new Macbook.  But in general, it speaks to the wise move Apple made in going with Nvidia.  So, anyone who says Apple don't care about gaming, Steve Jobs appreciate a little apology. Here goes.  I've eliminated some numbers such as the iMac and new Macbook Pro's 9400M because they were essentially the same as the Macbook's own 9400M numbers. How does the Macbook stack up against the MBP with 8600GT ?  Pretty much along the same line as what Jobs said.  The 9400M numbers came in about 62% of the 8600GT.  This is a huge improvement over the X3100, and certain the X4500 had Apple gone with it instead.   How is the Macbook 9400M compared to the new ...

RIM sold 5.4 million phones.  Valued at $2.1 billion.  Their best quarter.  This comes out to $389 per handset.  That's very good. But  Apple  sold 6.9 million  iPhones  valuing at $4.6 billion.  I'll let you do the math...no wonder RIM is getting killed.  As good as the Storm is, Blackberries have not been able to hold serve since the iPhone 3G came out.   One more thing...Apple stock was about to tank when the guidance looked bad but then Jobs show up during the financial call and stock jumped 10%...ended the extended session up 13%.   Look at the analysts who commented on the  iPhone    before it came out. Also of note for Apple fans: Wired reported the Android Marketplace, which I found virtually abandoned yesteryday and today, should be stock up with 50 apps by tomorrow.  the iTunes app store came ready with 500 at launch.    The iPhone app store has ballooned 11X from when it debuted ba...

Macworld has been busy.  I didn't think they would be this fast but they've got benchmarks up for the new Macbooks.  It's ready for your consumption. I just want to point out some things about the benchmark as it relates to the new Mac portables. The 2.4Ghz MB more than held its own against the Macbook Pro.  Of the nine tests, it won four of them.  Adobe PS Suite, MPEG encoding, iTunes, and zip archive. With it's dedicated Nvidia 9600 GPU and larger cache, the new MBP won the Speedmark 5, unzip archive, and, obviously, the Quake 4 frame rate with 59 FPS. The 2.4Ghz MB achieve a wonderful 39 FPS in the Quake 4 test, coming at 67% of the MBP number. The 2.4Ghz MB with 39 FPS in the Quake 4 test is more than 5X the early 2008 Macbook.  The new 2.0Ghz MB also bested the early 2008 Macbook more than 5X. The new white Macbook bested the 2Ghz Macbook in 4 of the 9 tests, likely because of the higher clock rate. Personally, I'm still leaning towards the 2...

In keeping the white Macbook, we'll call it WMB, Apple has effectively created two lines of Macbooks along with the Aluminum Macbook, AMB. Why the two?  This is simply beyond making Macbooks more affordable for the general public.  In fact, Apple may now finally have a corporate strategy, if only based on looks. You may not well go into a client meeting with a WMB but going in there looking fresh with an AMB is definitely a plus.  Furthermore, corporations has already begin to realize the benefits of using Macs in their environment.  But Jobs did something brilliant in going after the corporate market. How?  Steve Jobs said in the Macbook event, you can buy into the aluminum case, LED screen, and much improved graphics experience for $700 less for the low-end AMB and $400 less for the high-end AMB.  Just like Jobs is asking a lot of the boardroom-friendly Macbook Air, he is doing the same with the AMB. On the other hand, the WMB will still appeal to...